Unexpected

by Jenny Frame

  She got her car keys and checked her tie for the last time. “Well, Ms. Harper, you wanted mature, you’ve got it.”

  * * *

  Dale drove slowly up the country road that led to the Harpers’ house. She squirmed every time her precious Jaguar hit a rock or pothole on the unkempt road. Could Becca have lived anywhere more remote?

  She pulled in to the vicarage driveway, and everything looked quiet. Good. She had thought it best to go during school hours, so as not to get Jake too excited.

  Dale parked her car and walked up to the front door. There was a big lion-head door knocker, and as she went to use it, it fell clean off the door and fell into a bush beside the door frame.

  “Shit!” She quickly reached down into the bush to pull it back out. It seemed to be caught on something, because it wasn’t budging.

  “Come on, come on. This is a great way to make a serious impression.”

  She manoeuvred it around the branches and gave it a good pull. Then she heard a rip. She’d torn her jacket sleeve. “Brilliant, fucking brilliant.” Dale shook her head and sighed.

  She looked at the screws hanging from the knocker and knew she would need a screwdriver to fix it, so she stuffed it in her pocket out of sight and knocked on the wooden door.

  Dale waited for a few minutes and didn’t get an answer, so she started to walk around the house, looking in the windows as she went. The only sign of life was a lit fire in what looked like a sitting room.

  She eventually walked around to the back garden. It was large, but all very wild and overgrown. The grass was high and weeds were allowed free rein.

  Not a good place for Jake to play.

  As she walked closer to the back door, she was surprised to find Becca trying to drag a heavy looking bin bag through the kitchen door.

  Dale immediately ran over to her and took the bag from her. “Hey, hey, why are you lifting heavy things in your condition?”

  At first Becca looked stunned that she was there, but her expression soon turned to anger. “What are you doing here? I told you not to come back.”

  “Aye, I know, but I just wanted to talk to you.” Despite the current circumstances and how angry Becca was, all Dale could think was how much more beautiful she was than she remembered. She was a perfect lady.

  But Becca wasn’t in the mood for her it seemed, because she replied, “Leave now or I’ll call the police. I told you to forget about us—you have no rights over Jake.”

  Becca was extremely frustrating. “And I told you that I didn’t want any rights over him. Listen, I know this is a frightening situation for you, but it was a big shock for me too. I know about Jake now”—Dale’s eyes lowered to Becca’s baby bump—“and the wee yin there. I can’t un-know it, and it’s been hard thinking about it all weekend. I can’t just leave it like this and never think about you all again. I’m not like that, Becca. Would you please just give me ten minutes to talk to you? Please?”

  Becca sighed. “Ten minutes then. That’s it.”

  Dale pumped a fist inside herself. She couldn’t quite explain why she was so excited at getting this one little chance to talk. The only thing she could say was that when she looked at Jake, at Becca, and at the baby bump Becca kept her hand on protectively, she felt connected. There was no other way to describe it.

  “Thank you,” Dale said and lifted up the bin bag. “Where can I put this for you?”

  “Over there by the garage. The outside bin’s over there. Thanks.”

  “No problem. I’ll just be a minute.”

  As Dale walked over to the garage she thought, Don’t mess this up. Don’t mess this up.

  * * *

  Becca stirred the tea in the pot and lifted the tray to bring it over to the table.

  Dale was immediately on her feet. “Let me get that for you.”

  Becca’s defences came up straight away. “No, I can manage.” As much as the debt that was hanging over her head was a huge, almost insurmountable worry, nothing was as frightening as the woman sitting at her kitchen table. Although Becca kept telling herself that Dale McGuire had no legal rights to her children, she was still a threat. Jake had taken to her straight away, and he was still angry that she’d sent Dale away.

  But most of all, Dale McGuire scared her because just looking at her reminded Becca that Jake, and the baby inside her, weren’t biologically hers.

  She plonked the tea tray down and poured out a cup. “Milk? Sugar?”

  “Just milk. I’m sweet enough,” Dale joked.

  The joke and Dale’s broad grin were totally lost on her. How could she joke in a situation like this?

  Dale’s smiled faltered when she got nothing back, so she cleared her throat and rubbed her palms together awkwardly. Becca handed over her cup of tea and noticed the big rip on Dale’s suit jacket.

  “What happened to your sleeve?”

  Dale blustered nervously for a few seconds and then said, “Eh, I lost a fight with your rose bush at the front door.”

  Becca gripped her cup tensely and took a sip of tea. “Do you have somewhere important to go after here?”

  Dale furrowed her eyebrows. “No, why?”

  When she’d first seen Dale in her rugged jeans, computer game character T-shirt, and classic sports car, she thought she looked quite immature. She didn’t look like a successful businesswoman, and yet she was. She’d given Becca the impression that she was irresponsible, probably a player, not a cultured, sophisticated woman like Trent. Trent lived in suits, and the look fitted her to a tee. Dale looked as if she had borrowed her dad’s suit for a job interview or for court. She wore it like it didn’t fit her somehow, but although it didn’t seem her style, it was sweet in a way.

  “You don’t seem like the suit type.”

  “No, I don’t have anywhere to go, but I can look smart if I want to.” Dale looked at her exactly like Jake did when he was mad about something, and that made her stomach clench with fear, nervousness, and something else. Something she couldn’t identify.

  “If you say so. So? You have ten minutes. Say what you came to say.”

  Dale tapped her fingertips on the table, trying to find the right words. She knew Becca might be unhappy at seeing her again, but she was downright frosty. Dale normally charmed those she met with a joke and a smile. Becca was going to be a tougher nut to crack. She was not only beautiful, but so cultured, and so far out of Dale’s league.

  Becca looked as if she should be on the arm of a doctor, a lawyer, someone like that, certainly not a grease monkey like her, but yet here Becca was in a run-down farmhouse, pregnant, on her own, and in the middle of nowhere. There had to be a story behind Rebecca Harper.

  “I’m on the clock? Wow, this is hard to put into words.” Dale drummed out a beat with her hands on the table. “This is a weird situation, I know that. I was told when I went to the clinic that there was a possibility a child might look me up at eighteen, but I never really took it seriously. When Jake turned up, it knocked me for six.”

  “I don’t know why you came back today,” Becca said. “If you never really cared or wanted a child to contact you at eighteen, why are you here now? I gave you a perfect get-out clause. I told you to go.”

  Dale ran her hand through her short hair, and loosened her tie even more. “A mixture of things really. I like Jake—I really do. He’s great kid. You must be really proud.”

  “I’m his mum,” Becca said sharply. “Of course I’m proud.”

  Dale felt the sharp reminder that Becca was his mum. And she was nothing to them.

  “Listen, I’m not here to upset you, and I want you to trust me that I don’t want to come between you and Jake.”

  Becca rubbed her baby bump. “I don’t trust anyone, Dale, and I don’t know you.”

  “Okay, okay, that’s understandable. Let me just say this. I profited from your need for a child. I was saving up to buy my first garage from the guy I worked for. I nearly had enough, but not quite. So the money the clin
ic gave me, your money, got me over the line. Once I got my first garage, it just kept growing into the business it is today, so I owe you.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, Dale. You would have gotten the money some other way.”

  “Maybe,” Dale said. “But I didn’t. You helped me at a time of need and now I’d like to help you. Jake gave me a list of problems…Give me a second.”

  Becca gazed at her silently as she rummaged around in her jacket. She finally found Jake’s list and started to rhyme off the problems.

  “The central heating, the car—”

  Rebecca stood and Dale stopped her list. “Dale, I’m sorry Jake came and disrupted your life, and gave you all these problems that you now feel you need to solve, but you don’t. You are not obligated to me or us for anything, and I do not take charity.”

  Becca walked over to the kitchen door and held it open for Dale to leave.

  “It’s not charity. I just want to help.” Dale couldn’t believe how calm and cold Becca was being, and it was beginning to annoy her. “You promised to give me ten minutes, so sit back down, hen.”

  “Did you just call me hen?” Becca marched back over with the red flush of anger spreading from her neck up to her cheeks.

  To Dale that marked progress—at least she was provoking some kind of emotion.

  “Aye, I did. Now please, sit down. I’m not here to hurt you or upset you, believe me.”

  Becca seemed to consider Dale’s words for a few moments, then sat.

  “Thanks, Becca. I know this is difficult for you.”

  “Do you? Could you imagine how it would feel to long for children all your life and not be able to have them? To make your dream a reality and then come face-to-face with the biological parent of your child? I have nothing against you, Dale, but I wish Jake had never found you.”

  Dale could feel the strain and stress in Becca’s voice. Jake said her mum wasn’t feeling good, and if she was making Becca feel worse, maybe she should go.

  “Yeah, I understand. I’ll go, but before I do, will you tell me what’s wrong with you? Jake said you were ill. Is the baby okay?”

  Becca sighed. “I have very high blood pressure. I collapsed at work on a job. I’m a commercial photographer, and I was on a construction site. It was not the best place to faint, and the doctor advised for my own safety that I give up work. He’s worried about pre-eclampsia setting in. I get monitored every week. I had problems when I had Jake too, but now I’m a lot older this time around, so things are harder still.”

  Dale closed her eyes briefly. She’s stressed and I’m making everything worse.

  “A commercial photographer? That really interesting. Have you always worked for yourself?”

  “Yes, ever since I left university and I—well anyway, it’s not a safe environment for me or the baby at the moment, and I have to turn away clients.”

  “Then let me help you. Let me take your car into my garage to be fixed and I can help with the other things. You’ll be less stressed and start to feel better.”

  “No,” Becca said without hesitation. “I don’t take help from anyone. I look after my family, myself. I don’t need anyone.”

  There was a lot of history and bitterness behind that statement, Dale surmised. Whatever had made Rebecca Harper emotionally closed off and such a stubborn individual must have really hurt her badly. Dale wasn’t the most emotionally switched on herself, but she lived, she loved her friends and Mia, and she laughed. Becca didn’t even crack a smile.

  I’m going to make you laugh, hen, eventually, Dale promised herself, but first she had to get Becca to trust her, get one foot in the door.

  “Becca, I’m going to be straight with you. I made a promise to Jake that I would help you, and that I wouldn’t disappear. I don’t ever break my promises. I would understand if you didn’t want Jake to see me again, but at least let me help in some way. Just so that I’m not failing him completely. Let me repair your car, here on your property if you like, and then I’ll know you have a way to get to doctors’ appointments and stuff.”

  “Why is this so important to you?”

  You were a mistake, Dale.

  Dale looked down at her tapping fingers on the table. She had her secrets as well as Becca, and she wasn’t ready or able to tell that story.

  She stood up and walked the few paces to Becca’s side. “Let’s just say, I don’t want to let Jake down the way I was.”

  Becca sighed and rubbed her baby bump soothingly. “Okay, the car and that’s it, but you do it here, and during school hours, so Jake doesn’t see you.”

  Yes, yes, yes! Dale cheered inside. It might not be her foot in the door, but it was at least a toe, and she could work with that, because one thing Dale knew for certain. She wanted to know Becca and Jake better.

  “Oh, and I need to fix your door knocker.” Dale pulled it out of her pocket sheepishly.

  “I hope you don’t do that to my car—it’s bad enough as it is.”

  Dale winked at her. “Don’t worry, hen, I’m good with my hands.”

  * * *

  Becca watched Dale drive off and heard her name being called. It was Sadie coming through the gate between their two properties.

  “Becca, is everything okay? Was she bothering you?”

  When Sadie got up close, Becca threaded her arm through Sadie’s for support.

  “I’m fine. Dale McGuire just turned up out of nowhere wanting to help. She said she’s not been able to stop thinking about us.”

  “And are you worried she’s getting too interested?” Sadie said.

  Becca nodded. “I told her to go but she wouldn’t. She insisted on helping, and so I gave in and said she could fix the car, but only during school hours so Jake doesn’t see her.”

  “That’s not like you, Becca. To let someone close, I mean.”

  Becca sighed and they started to walk back to the house. “I know. There’s something about her that I can’t say no to. Maybe it’s because she’s the first one, apart from you, obviously, to show an interest in Jake. Trent doesn’t even use his name.”

  Sadie patted her hand. “Maybe you should trust your instincts then. Perhaps she is genuine. What’s the worst that can happen? Your lawyer told you that you have the law on your side, and Jake will never know.”

  Becca knew only too well what the worst that could happen was, but she wasn’t going to talk about that. As much as she liked and trusted Sadie, even she didn’t know Becca’s past. Only Trent did, and she wanted to keep it that way.

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Becca said to Sadie.

  All she could do was hope that she didn’t live to regret this chance she was taking.

  Chapter Six

  The next morning Becca was getting Jake ready for school while he finished breakfast. She closed up his sandwich box and popped it in his backpack.

  “Is there anything special you would like? Granny Sadie is going into town.”

  Jake let his spoon crash down into his cereal bowl and said, “I’d like some lollipops, just like Dale.”

  “You know I don’t like you to eat sweets, Jake. They’ll rot your teeth.”

  Jake didn’t reply but just got down from the table and took his backpack from Becca. “Mummy, I was sure Dale would come back. She promised me she wouldn’t disappear.”

  Becca saw hurt in Jake’s eyes. This was exactly what Dale had been talking about, the promise she’d made that Becca wasn’t allowing her to keep. Yet another thing for her to feel guilty about. She’d sent Dale away.

  “I’m sure she’s very busy, Jake. She runs a big business. Besides, I think it’s better this way.”

  Jake hugged her and placed his hand on her baby bump. “I thought she would help us, Mummy.”

  Becca let out a sigh. She couldn’t do right from doing wrong these days. “Let’s get you on the bus, Pooh Bear.”

  Jake got his things and they walked down to the end of the driveway. After a hug and a kiss, Jake got on
the bus and it drove off. Just as Becca waved the school bus away, a van pulled around the corner into her driveway. On the side it said McGuire’s Motors.

  Becca’s heart started to beat faster. Why did I agree to this?

  Dale jumped out of the van with a huge smile on her face. “Morning, hen. I waited around the corner until I saw the school bus leave.”

  “Thank you.” Dale was back to her jeans and T-shirts today, but in a way Becca preferred that to her formal shirt and tie. This suited her much more. It was just Dale.

  “I wanted to prove I could follow your rules,” Dale said.

  “I appreciate that. I’ll unlock the garage for you, and you can drive up.”

  “Nae bother, I’m going to fix the door knocker I broke too. Do you want to get in the van and I’ll drive you up?”

  Dale was much too full of energy and smiles for this time in the morning. “I’ll walk.”

  Dale’s smile faltered, and then she said, “Oh, okay. Speaking of knockers, you’ll like this one. Knock, knock.”

  “Excuse me?” Becca had not heard someone say that to her since she was a child, and it certainly wasn’t appropriate now.

  “A knock-knock joke. You’re supposed to say, Who’s there?”

  “Why?” Becca said flatly.

  Dale sighed. “Because it’s funny. You do laugh, don’t you?”

  “No, I don’t have a sense of humour,” Becca said coldly. I’ve never needed one.

  “Well I’ll say it for you. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Cows go.”

  Dale was completely insane. Becca gave in.

  “Okay, I’ll play. Cows go who?”

  “No, silly. Cows go moo!” Dale started laughing, but Becca was unmoved. Dale seemed to have the maturity of an eight-year-old.

  “Get it?” Dale said. “Cows go moo.”

  “I’ll unlock the garage for you,” Becca said and turned to walk away.

  But Dale shouted behind her, “Oh, come on. That was funny.”

  Becca was annoyed that Dale thought this was all a big joke. Letting Dale come here was the biggest risk she’d taken in years, and she was not going to laugh about it.